


The Propriety of a Princess

by navochao



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound
Genre: F/M, Medieval AU, aka: when a zelda fan gets their grubby hands on a mother au, because ive got nothing better to write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-27 07:17:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17762285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navochao/pseuds/navochao
Summary: A Mother AU set in medieval times or something. Or if you want to look at it like how I do, if EarthBound was a Zelda game.





	1. Not For The Life Of Me

Paula, Princess of Eagleland, was not in the mood to meet with anyone today. She was not in the mood to meet with anyone ever, in fact, but today was an especially not good day to try and talk to her. 

But here she was anyway, sitting in a room waiting for some prince to walk in. Great. Ten out of ten way to start her day off.

 

No matter how much her parents tried to pester her, or how much they tried to force her, she refused to find anyone she wanted to marry. So they decided to take matters into their own hands and find someone for her. And that person, so she has been told, is Prince Claus, heir to the throne of Tazmily. 

 

She had never heard of Tazmily before in her life up until she was told about Prince Claus. But here she was, waiting to meet its crown prince. 

What an amazing day for her, wasn’t it.

 

Before she knew it the doors to the room were opened from the outside and a young man, just a little older than her, walked through the doors that were promptly shut right behind him. 

 

Paula couldn’t lie to herself, he was definitely attractive. A proper prince charming he was. But looks could be deceiving, so she still wasn’t thrilled about the whole ordeal.

 

She stood up, curtseying. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Prince Claus.” 

 

The prince bowed in return. “The pleasure is all mine.”

 

Paula had to keep herself from gagging. 

 

The Tazmily Prince was going to be staying in Eagleland for four months, getting to know Paula and her kingdom, before he went back home. Then a year after that they were going to get married. Paula had been briefed on the whole timetable a week before, when she learned that she was to be married. Of course her parents waited until the last possible second to tell her, because they knew if she had known earlier she would have told them to call it off. 

 

She stared at the prince blankly for a moment, not even sure what she was supposed to say. She was terrible at talking to people. It probably came from the fact she didn’t have many people to talk to. 

 

The prince seemed to pick up on this, “Your dress looks nice.”

 

Paula glanced down at her dress. It was pink, with white ribbons and trim decorating it. It was her favorite dress. “Oh, thank you. Yours looks nice too. Wait, that’s not what I meant-” She felt like collapsing in on herself to hide from the embarrassment that she was to herself.

 

To Paula’s surprise, though, the prince laughed. “I get what you mean.” 

 

Somehow him laughing at her mistake made her feel slightly less embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I’m just not used to talking to people.” God, that made her sound lonely. Not like she could qualify to say she wasn’t lonely, but still.

 

“I understand. I can’t say the same for me, though. I have a brother.”

 

Why didn’t anyone tell Paula anything? She had no idea he had a brother! “You do?”

 

“Yes, his name is Lucas. We’re twins. I’m older by thirty minutes.” 

 

Now it was Paula’s time to laugh. “Is thirty minutes really important?”

 

The prince shrugged. “It is when it comes down to the line of succession. Being older by thirty minutes makes me the heir to the throne. Lucas doesn’t mind, though.”

 

“It worked out for you, then.” Paula nervously wiped the sweat off her hands on her dress. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden? She went from uninterested to nervous in half of a second. She didn’t like this. “So are you excited to marry the princess of a foreign kingdom that you’ve never met before?”

 

The prince was obviously taken aback by the question. “You’ve surely got a lot to say.”

 

“You didn’t answer the question, your highness.” 

 

Claus looked back at the two maids standing by the door, as if they held the answer to her question. They both seemed unfazed by how brazen their princess was, so he had no choice but to answer her truthfully. “I’m just doing what my father tells me to do.” 

 

Paula nodded, as if that one sentence told her everything she needed to know about the prince in front of her. “I see.”

 

The rest of the day, Paula was instructed to show the prince various things around the castle that she called a home. When asked where he wanted to go first, his answer surprised her.

 

“Where do your soldiers train?”

 

“Excuse me?” Paula looked over at the prince, who was walking beside her with perfect posture, hands clasped behind his back.

 

“I want to watch your soldiers train.” The prince repeated himself. 

 

Paula didn’t feel like questioning him further, instead opting to just take him to the barracks. The sooner she showed him around, the sooner she could go do something else.

 

The barracks were full of soldiers mostly messing around, not really properly training, but the second the princess and her new fiance walked in the room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look up at the princess.

 

Paula looked around the room, surprised to see they had all stopped. “As you were.” 

 

After a beat, the room filled with the sounds of soldiers quickly shuffling around to start training again as the princess and her fiance watched from a balcony above. 

 

“So why did you want to go here?” 

 

Claus looked around the room, watching each soldier as if he was evaluating the performance of every single one. “I do a little sword fighting in my spare time.”

 

“That doesn’t answer my question-” Before Paula could ask her question again, the prince walked past her and down the stairs, picking up a sword from a rack up against the walls, only to point it at a soldier with messy black hair. 

 

“You.”

 

“M-me?” The soldiers around him quickly backed off, leaving only him and the prince in the center of the room.

 

“Spar with me.” The prince adjusted his grip on the sword he had picked up.

 

“Are you sure about this-”

 

“Yes.” 

 

Paula was half tempted to just leave, let him have fun with the soldiers while she went back to her room to take a nap or something, but the other half of her was interested to see how this turned out. So she stayed right where she was, watching the two spar below her.

 

The spar started out semi-friendly, but slowly the prince stopped holding back, and the soldier had no choice but to fight back just as hard, until neither was holding back at all, and there was the very real possibility that someone could possibly get hurt. 

 

The rest of the soldiers were so invested in the fight, and so obviously wanted their fellow soldier to win. It seemed, to Paula at least, that they had totally forgotten that she was watching, or that the person he was sparing was a prince. They only cared about the fight. 

 

Eventually Claus seemed to be getting tired, but he didn’t give up. He kept fighting back.

 

Paula was about to tell them to stop when the sound of metal scraping against metal sounded throughout the room, but louder, and Paula watched as a sword flew past some soldiers and found itself embedded inside of a wall. 

 

Paula half expected to see Claus still holding a sword, so she was genuinely surprised to see him staring at the sword in the wall, while the soldier he had been fighting stood a couple steps away from him with a sword in hand.

 

After a second, Claus turned to the soldier and held out his hand. “Good job.”

 

The soldier was obviously still in awe, but quickly took his hand a shook it. “You too.” 

 

Claus turned around, leaving the sword still stuck in the wall as he walked up the stairs and past Paula, headed towards the door. 

 

Paula had no other choice but to follow him out.


	2. What You Want

Paula was sitting at her vanity, her handmaid doing her hair for dinner. She had since changed into a different dress, as requested by her mother. She watched as ribbons were braided into her hair, kicking her feet under the vanity as she kept her hands perfectly still in her lap. She hated this so much. 

 

“I wonder what Tazmily is like,” Paula mused to herself, desperate to fill the silence that was in the room. 

 

“I’m sure you’ll find out soon, milady.” The handmaid finished up her hair, stepping back. “Does that look good?”

 

Paula nodded, not really looking at the hair. She didn’t care enough. “Thank you.”

 

“Of course,” 

 

The handmaid made a turn to leave the room before Paula called after her to stop her. “Hey, do you mind staying here with me for a bit?”

 

The handmaid stopped, turning around. “Are you sure?”

 

Paula nodded. “I don’t have many friends.” 

 

“Oh,” The handmaid looked around the room a bit, “Well, then I’ll be here for you to talk to until someone comes to retrieve you for dinner.” 

 

“Thank you.” Paula smiled. “So, what’s your name?”

 

“My name?” The handmaid nervously rung her hands together, “Ana.”

 

“That’s a nice name.” Paula decided to stand up, straightening out her dress as she did. “Tell me about yourself.”

 

“Oh, I’m not interesting enough.” Ana shook her head. “Trust me. All I do is work here.”

 

“Well that’s something! I’m sure plenty of people would find that interesting.”

 

“Well why would you find it interesting, you live here.” Ana gestured around the room. “This room is bigger than my entire house.”

 

Paula frowned. “Is it really?”

 

“That’s not your fault, milady! Really! God, I shouldn’t have said that-”

 

“No! No it’s fine, don’t worry about it. And please, just call me Paula.” 

 

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to remember that. But I’ll try.” 

 

There was a knock at the door, and Ana immediately went to answer it. Paula could hear a mans voice behind the door, telling Ana to tell her that her presence was requested for dinner in the main dining hall.

 

Ana nodded, closing the door again, turning to Paula. “Well, are you ready?”

 

Paula shrugged, picking up her dress and walking towards the door. “No, but I don’t think I ever will be.”

 

“I envy you, mil- Paula,” Ana corrected herself, opening the door. “If the most of your worries are dinner with your fiance.”

 

“Fiance by force, but I suppose you’re right. It’s kind of silly. Thank you, for doing my hair.”

 

“Any time, Paula.” 

 

Paula was the last one to arrive to dinner, finding an empty chair across from the prince saved for her, only a little bit away from her mother. Great. 

 

Paula sat down, smiling at Claus. She really did not want to be here, but what could she do other than grit her teeth and smile? 

 

“So, Claus,” Paula heard her mother begin to speak from down the table, “How do you like Eagleland so far?”

 

Claus turned his attention to the queen, smiling. God, Paula wished his smile didn’t look so fake. “So far it’s been wonderful. Thank you for having me.”

 

“Of course,” The queen continued. “We would do anything for our daughters happiness.”

 

_ ‘Except actually listen to her, _ ’ Paula thought to herself, poking at the salad that was placed in front of her. 

 

“That’s commendable,” Claus said. “I think I could say the same myself.”

 

“Hmm?” The queen looked up at him, a question in her eyes.

 

“That I would do anything for Paula's happiness.” 

 

Paula nearly choked on lettuce. She had only known him one day, and he was out here acting like they had known each other their entire lives! Paula couldn’t believe it. She was so close from just getting up, throwing her chair, and storming out of there. 

 

But instead she just sat right where she was and continued to eat her food while Claus and her parents talked about her, as if she wasn’t even there.

 

After dinner, she went back to her room without even acknowledging Claus or her parents.

 

The next morning, she was woken up by the sound of someone knocking on the door.

 

“Come in,” Paula tore her face away from her pillow, practically dragging herself out of her bed. 

 

When the door opened, Ana stepped into the room. “Milady, your parents request you go to the portrait room. Now.”

 

“Now?” Paula was still half asleep, and her hair was a mess. “Like, right now?”

 

“I suppose we have a couple of minutes to do your hair, but quickly. Go get dressed, I’ll get things ready,” 

 

“You’re the best, Ana.” Paula quickly disappeared her dressing screen, picking out a dress.

 

Thanks to Ana, Paula looked semi presentable when she finally made her way to the portrait room, only to find the soldier that Claus had picked a fight with looking at the paintings on the wall as her mother and father talked, obviously waiting for her.

 

“Oh! Paula!” Her mother noticed Paula walk into the room, moving over to her. “I was starting to get worried you were sleeping in again.”

 

“No, just took a moment to do my hair. I’m sorry for running late.”

 

“It’s perfectly fine,” Her mother turned to the young soldier staring at the paintings. “Claus thought it was a good idea to get you a personal knight, since you didn’t have one, and personally picked this one.”

 

Paula didn’t like how her mother was seemingly talking about the soldier as if he was just property, almost so caught up on that to even process what she had said earlier. “Wait, what did you say?”

 

“I said Claus wanted us to assign you a personal knight, and we agreed!” Her mother gestured to the soldier again. “His name is Ness,”

 

At that point, the soldier- Ness, had realized he was being talked about, turning to Paula and her mother and bowing. 

 

“He’s going to be escorting you anywhere you need to be.” Paula’s father said from the corner where he still stood.

 

“I don’t need a personal knight!” Paula protested, looking over at her parents. “I can’t believe you would just let Prince Claus come in here and just start controlling my life!”

 

“He’s not controlling your life, Paula,” Her mom frowned. “He’s just looking out for your safety.”

 

Paula couldn’t believe what she was being told, and had no words to describe how she was feeling. Instead, she stormed out of the room, making a beeline to her bedroom so she could go back to sleep until Claus finally left and went back home.


	3. So Much Better

Paula did not like being followed. Everywhere she went, that knight followed a good five feet behind her. She hated it. She repeatedly told him to leave her alone, and he either responded with a shrug or told her that he can’t. 

 

“What do you mean you can’t? I’m the princess, and if I say I don’t need a knight following me around then I don’t need a knight following me around! How hard is that to understand?”

 

The knight stared at her for a second, “It’s not hard to understand.”

 

“Then why won’t you listen to me?” 

 

The knight shrugged again. “I don’t really want to lose my job, your highness.” 

 

Paula stared blankly back at the knight. She hadn’t really thought of that, and now she felt terrible. “Well. Fine then, but you’re not going to be following me. You’re going to be walking next to me whenever I’m not walking with anyone. When I’m with Prince Claus, you can follow us if you still want to watch over me.” 

 

The knight simply nodded. It drove Paula crazy.

 

Paula wanted to get out of the castle, so she went out to the garden behind the castle. No one ever went out to the garden, but Paula always loved it. She liked looking at all the pretty flowers, or just sitting by the fountain in the center for hours and watching birds fly around above her. 

 

“Have you ever been out here?” She asked the knight.

 

The knight shook his head.

 

Paula turned to him “You don’t talk much, do you?”

 

“I don’t really have much to say.”

 

She frowned. “I’m sure you have plenty to say.”

 

“Not to you.” He paused, then was quick to correct himself. “That was rude I’m sorry that’s not what I meant.”

 

“It wasn’t rude, I know what you meant.” Paula turned to a rose bush, pulling a rose free. “Just because I’m a princess doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me.”

 

“Just because you say that doesn’t mean that suddenly anything I say means something to you.”

 

“Of course it means something to me.” 

 

“Not really.”

 

“Yes really!” Paula began walking again. “What’s on your mind.” 

 

The knight walked with her, thinking for a moment before answering. “I’m thinking about my sister, I guess.”

 

“You have a sister?” The knight nodded “You’re lucky, I wish I had a sister. It gets pretty boring, being all by yourself.” 

 

“I thought you wanted to be alone.”

 

“No, not at all. I just don’t like the idea of someone following me around.” Paula stopped in front of the fountain. “What’s your sisters name?”

 

“Tracy.” 

 

“I’d love to meet her one day, if I could. Maybe one day.”

 

The knight looked over at her. “I’m sure she would love to meet you too.”

 

“Do you see her often?” Paula asked, staring down at the fountain. “I mean, assuming you live here. At the castle.”

 

“I see her sometimes. I miss her.”

 

The sound of footsteps behind them cause Paula to stop talking before she even started, tossing the rose she was holding into the fountain and turning around to see who was there. The knight reached for his sword, until he noticed it was just Prince Claus.

 

“What are you doing all the way out here?” He asked Paula.

 

Paula gave him a confused look. “I live here.”

 

“No, I mean out here.” Claus gestured around them “In the garden.”

 

“Again, my castle.” Paula held her hands behind her back. “I could ask you what you’re doing out here too, you know.” 

 

“I was looking for you.”

 

“I don’t need you to go looking for me, I have Ness right here.”

 

Claus turned to Ness. “Oh, so your name is Ness.”

 

Ness just nodded curtly.

 

Claus looked at Ness, waiting for him to speak before turning back to Paula “Doesn’t talk much, does he?”

 

“Not really, no.” 

 

“It’s a good thing he’s good with a sword then.”

 

Paula had to keep herself from laughing. “Didn’t know you wanted your soldiers to go around talking back to you.”

 

“I don’t need them to when you do it more than enough.”

 

“You don’t have to marry me, you know.” 

 

Claus laughed, “You’re very interesting, Princess Paula.”

 

“The good kind of interesting, or the bad kind of interesting?” Paula questioned.

 

“Interesting, that’s for sure.” Claus looked over to Ness again. “Make sure to protect her with your life.”

 

Ness nodded again. “That’s what I’m here for.”

 

“Good.” Claus turned on his heel, beginning to leave the garden. “Nice seeing you again, Princess.” 

 

As soon as the Prince was out of earshot, Paula kicked the air, nearly falling back into the fountain. “Oh, I hate him!”

 

Ness reached out, ready to catch her if she did fall. “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you marrying him then?”

 

“It wasn’t my choice, it was my mothers. She wanted me to get married next year regardless of who it was, but apparently I was taking too long to find someone to marry, so she picked someone for me.”

 

Ness frowned. “That doesn’t sound incredibly fair.”

 

“I guess I should be lucky she even gave me the chance to find someone on my own in the first place, but did she have to pick the most insufferable person on the planet?” Paula crossed her arms, sitting down on the fountain. “Sometimes I wish I could just run away.”

 

“And drive the kingdom to anarchy?” 

 

Paula laughed “Yes! Yes, anarchy everywhere! I just don’t want to marry him. I want to like him, I really do. If it’ll make my parents happy, anyway. But he makes it so difficult.” 

 

“Why don’t you try talking to him, instead of fighting with him?”

 

Paula looked up at Ness “I don’t know what to talk to him about.”

 

“Find out what he likes. He’s very talented with a sword, so he obviously likes that. Ask him about that.” Ness shrugged. “I don’t know anything about princes and princesses, I just work for them.”

 

“At least I have you to talk to, even if you don’t talk that much.” Paula stood up again. “We should probably go back inside.”

 

Ness nodded. “After you, then.”

 

Paula rolled her eyes, slightly shoving Ness to get him to start walking with her. “I said you weren’t allowed to follow me anymore!”

 

Paula could swear she heard him slightly laugh. “Alright, alright. I won't follow you anymore.”


End file.
